The Ticket that Nopony Wants
It was a warm afternoon in the apple orchard of the Apple family, there, two ponies were hugging under an apple tree, the same apple tree in which both ponies had kissed by accident on the first day they met.
Dusk was hugging Applejack, he had done it impulsively, all so that his friend didn't refuse his help. It was so that she finally gave in and whispered an 'It's okay' in his ear and finally accepting his request to help. Instantly, Dusk felt that Applejack's muscles were no longer tense, which he attributed to her having finally relaxed, so Dusk kept hugging Applejack, thinking that this hug should last longer, since what his friend needed most at the time was to relax.
While Dusk hugged Applejack, he remembered the hug he had also given Rarity a few days ago, although that hug hadn't lasted as long as the hug he was giving at that precise moment, which made many more ideas cross his mind while hugging her.
"The hugs are so warm... Maybe... The contact of other ponies is always so warm...?" Dusk thought, he was relaxed, letting himself be carried away by how good the hug felt, remembering the few hugs he had given in his life, because normally he was very shy in that aspect, always reluctant to such displays of affection, even to his own family.
"I... I feel good being like this with you..." Dusk told Applejack, thinking out loud. Dusk immediately realized that what he said had been very embarrassing, which made him quickly open his eyes and blush for saying that to Applejack out loud.
It was only then that Dusk broke away from the hug and realized that Applejack had passed out.
"Thank Celestia she didn't hear me say that. That would have been so shameful." Dusk said to himself, remembering what happened that day.
Dusk Shine rested quietly in his room, with his back on his bed, his eyes closed and one of his hooves covering his face, trying to hide his blushed cheeks. He had spent most of the morning resting in his room, something he hasn't done for a long time since he and his friends spent the whole week helping Applejack finish the apple harvest before the end of the season, and now that they had finally finished, Dusk wanted to take some time to finally relax a bit, to look back and meditate on everything that had happened.
Dusk took a deep breath, totally relaxed as he hadn't been for days, not only because he no longer had to go work at the farm, but because now he could be more relaxed when he’s with his friends. Dusk didn't know why, but after solving the problem with Applejack, he now feels much more comfortable when he is surrounded by his friends, because for some reason, that he didn't understand at all, it seemed that the mares were more calmer when he was around them. They no longer pounced in front of him to get his attention, now they all looked much more relaxed and chatted quietly with him without that struggle to capture his attention, that he had to live with in the first few days in Ponyville. That was something he had attributed to being the new friend in the group, without even going through his mind that there had been a deeper reason why the mares wanted to get his attention, Dusk only thought that the mares had finally accepted him fully in the group, and that made him feel relax and happy with himself.
That small but significant change in the relationship with his friends had made Dusk reformulate the thoughts he had on friendship. Since at the beginning, when Princess Celestia assigned him the task of studying the magic of friendship, he thought it would be something easy to handle, but after what happened with Applejack, Dusk realized that friendship would be something much more complicated to study than he thought. He experienced it in his own flesh to see all it had cost him to convince Applejack to accept his help in the harvest, something he finally did, and from that he learned new things about friendship, things that he had to inform Princess Celestia. After all, it was her who commissioned him to study that powerful and confusing magic called friendship.
With that last thought in mind, Dusk got up and went to the desk in his room, which was full of papers and scrolls that he had written in the last few nights, he wrote many of his ideas about friendship in them, there was also the book on how to make friends, with many paragraphs marked by Dusk, and a few spreadsheets on top of the book. As he approached, Dusk sat down, picked up a quill and began to write, he could wait no longer, he was determined to write to the princess, even though some of his ideas were not yet complete:
"Dear princess Celestia.
This week I had a problem with my friend Applejack, probably my first big friendship problem after making new friends. She had a problem that she wanted to solve on her own, a task that was almost impossible to do alone but she insisted that she wanted to solve it on her own. I looked for help in that book you sent me, but I realized that it is not a very effective manual, since it has advice, but no instructions or order to follow.
Finally, the experience solving this problem led me to the following conclusion:
Law of friendship No. 1: A friend must always watch over the welfare of their friend.
Law of friendship No. 2: A friend must always trust their friend, except when it would conflict with the First Law."
At this point Dusk stopped writing, without letting go of the quill, and looked uncertain at some of the spreadsheets he had filled out with numbers and logical equations. Then he bit his lip and continued writing:
"I am still trying to express all this as a mathematical equation, as soon as I succeed I'll send it to you, since I am sure that friendship can be expressed as a mathematical-logical axiom, since by applying these laws I was finally able to solve my friend's problem.
As soon as I have more discoveries about friendship, I'll send them to you.
Yours respectfully, your faithful student, Dusk Shine."
As soon as Dusk reached the end of the letter, he re-read it while a look of dissatisfaction appeared on his face. When he finished reading it, he sighed heavily and dropped his head on the desk, this was his fifteenth attempt to write a letter to the princess telling her about his discoveries of friendship and he was still unhappy.
For several nights, every time Dusk returned from work on the farm and had free time, he had written many theories about friendship, about what he had learned, in addition to filling many spreadsheets trying to present his ideas in a more scientific way, if possible, mathematically, since Dusk was convinced that the princess expected the best from him, and he couldn't simply send her a letter saying something as simple as that he had discovered that 'the welfare of a friend is first and foremost', that's why Dusk, being as methodical as ever, tried to express his discoveries with logical and mathematical formulas, something that obviously hadn't paid off, because without realizing it, he was trying to impose logic on feelings, that is, he was trying to put logic to something illogical.
Dusk continued to brood on the matter while his head tried in vain to express in laws and formulas what he felt for his friends, while without realizing a small and tiny idea was making its way into his head, an idea that still didn't convince him at all but had already appeared to stay, the idea that perhaps friendship was not something that could be expressed in numbers, but something that could only be felt.
Finally, Dusk gave a strong sigh and rolled the scroll with his magic, determined that this was the letter he would finally send, since it was the letter that had left him the most satisfied, where he expressed his experiences and learnings about Applejacks problem, besides applying certain logical parameters to his discoveries of friendship.
Dusk got up from the chair and opened the door of his room to go down stairs to the hall of the library. Once there, he approached a scaly figure that was there, it was Spike, who to Dusk's surprise, was absorbed in reading a book.
"Wow, I didn't know you would like scientific reading, especially..." Dusk said when he approached his brother, bending his head to see the cover of the book. "...'Jewels and Gems of Equestria'?" Dusk finished, reading the title of the book.
"Ah!?" Spike said surprised, taking off the book, looking up to see his older brother and showing the images of bright gems that were illustrated in the book. As soon as Spike looked up, Dusk saw a trickle of drool fall from his brother's mouth, as if he was seeing the most delicious thing in the world.
"Do you really miss eating gems so much?" Dusk asked, smiling as Spike wiped the drool in his mouth with his claw.
"Of course! They are an addiction, they are the tastiest things in the world!" Spike replied as his eyes sparkled, before giving Dusk a more scathing look. "If you hadn't spent so much money on the library, you could have bought some sweet gems..."
"Hey! I needed to get the library in great condition before opening it to the public!" Dusk said, pretending to be offended. "In addition, I'm close to getting the payment this week."
"Hngh..." Spike growled resigned, dropping forward, resting his chin on the ground, looking up at Dusk. "What are you holding there?"
Dusk took the scroll that had been levitating and moved it close to Spike's mouth.
"It's a letter I want you to send to the princess." Dusk said with a somewhat pleading look at his brother, seeing that he was not in a good mood and knowing that he was depending on his little brother to get the letter to reach the princess.
"So you finally finished it." Spike said without moving, only reluctantly spitting out a small green fire that quickly consumed the scroll, activating its shipping magic. "At last! You've spent so many nights trying to finish it."
"Yes... I know..." Dusk embarrassingly said. "By the way, you should stand up, you know that the princess normally answers my letters immediately, and I don't think that's a comfortable position for you to receive a letter."
Spike stood up, knowing that his brother was right, then he got in position to receive the princess's response at any time, with his feet fixed on the floor, his claws facing forward waiting for the thrust of the magical belching, and a tense look on his face, because it was something uncomfortable for the little dragon when the letters arrive without warning; while Dusk looked straight at his brother, as tense as he was. Several minutes passed, however the answer didn't come, so both the unicorn and the dragon shrugged and began to return to their routine.
"I guess the princess is busy. Changing the topic, will you continue reading that book of gems and jewels?" Dusk said, returning to normal.
"Yes, I- BUUURP!" Spike belched without warning, releasing a green flame from his mouth, from which appeared a small scroll. The unexpected belching, added to the magic force, caused Spike to jump back and almost fall to the floor.
"Cough! Cough... I told you... She does it on purpose!" Spike said angrily, rubbing his claw over his mouth, knowing that the princess enjoyed teasing him, and thinking that somehow, she knew when he was not ready, always sending a letter when he least expected it. "Can you imagine if she would make me burp in front of Rarity!?"
"There, there, it's just a burp." Dusk said trying to keep Spike from getting upset but thinking to himself, he couldn't rule out that the princess would actually do that on purpose, just to have fun at the little dragon's expense. Then Dusk stretched the scroll that had arrived and began to read it.
"What did the princess write to you?" Spike asked, approaching.
"It's not from the princess... Or at least not from her own hoofwriting." Dusk replied, lowering the scroll so that Spike could read it.
Dusk was holding something golden that had fallen from the scroll while Spike read the letter:
"Dear Sir.
It is a pleasure for me to extend this double invitation to the biggest event of Equestria of the year, 'the Grand Galloping Gala', it is to be held in the royal castle of Canterlot.
It will be an honor to have you and your partner on such a special occasion.
Please confirm both names and assistance as soon as possible.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia."
Obviously this was a standard letter sent to all the guests for the celebration, Dusk knew it since the princess would never write a personal letter so cold and without even mentioning his name. However, this invitation had come through Spike's magical fire, which meant that although she hadn't personally written the letter, at least she had personally sent it.
"What is that?" Spike asked, seeing what Dusk was holding with his magic.
"It came with the letter, it's a ticket for the Grand Galloping Gala." Dusk responded by bringing the invitation to Spike so he could see it. It was a small golden ticket, very elegant, in which it said: 'Invitation for two, for the Grand Galloping Gala', followed by two dotted lines for the unicorn to write down the two names of those who would attend.
Dusk stopped levitating the golden ticket so that it can fall into Spike's claws, the dragon had his claws outstretched and was about to catch the ticket when he had a revelation and he quickly put his claws away, causing the ticket to fall to the floor.
"What's wrong? Why didn't you catch it?" Dusk asked with a curious look.
"You're going to that party, right?" Spike asked with a suspicious look.
Dusk didn't answer, he just blushed, looking away from Spike's gaze.
"I knew it! You don't want to go! I know your tricks!" Spike said annoyed. "If I caught it you would say it's my problem now! Isn't it?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about..." Dusk said blushing, still not seeing Spike in the eye, lying as badly as Applejack did.
"Don't cheat me, I won’t fall into that trap." Spike said a little annoyed. "The princess sent it to you, so you're the one who should go."
"Nooo...! Please, I don't want to go!" Dusk finally admitted the truth, looking pleadingly at his little brother. "It'll be full of snobbish and elegant ponies, everything will be so boring... I've never been to one Gala before, but I've seen the ponies that go to those parties, I definitely will not stand a minute surrounded by those ponies."
"Well, then don't go." Spike said with a shrug.
"It's not that simple, this is an invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala! The most prestigious event in all of Equestria! In my case, an invitation sent personally by Princess Celestia! I can't just reject it and say I'll not go." Dusk said nervously looking at the ceiling, then lowering his eyes to look askance at his brother. "But if it were someone in my place... Someone worthy who could represent me and go in my place..."
"No! I definitely will not go!" Spike said crossing his arms. "You said it yourself, it's just a silly party for elegant and unpleasant Canterlot ponies, there is nothing in the world that would make me go there."
Dusk lowered his head, his plan had failed, Spike had anticipated his movement and now he would have to go to that elegant party and have to socialize with those false and upstart Canterlot ponies, he didn't want to go, but he couldn't just reject an invitation to an event as important as that, if only he had convinced Spike to go in his place... It was then that a brilliant idea appeared in Dusk's mind, which made him have a wicked smile.
"Oh, well, there is no other alternative, I guess I'll have to go." Dusk said suddenly, feigning disinterest. "Yeah... it's a pity you don't want to go in my place, because I know a fine and elegant white unicorn who would love to go to a party like that..."
Spike almost jumped when he heard what Dusk said.
"R-Rarity?" Spike asked with his eyes open, looking with full interest at Dusk.
"Yeah, you know how she likes all that glamor and stuff, she would definitely scream with joy and be deeply grateful if someone invited her to such an important and luxurious event..." Dusk said looking at Spike and smiling at the sight that his brother fell into his trap.
The dragon put a claw in his mouth and fell silent while fantasizing. Dusk didn't need to read his brother's mind to know what the dragon was imagining as he saw the dreamy look of his little brother while his cheeks blushed, and he put a silly face. Then Spike realized that he had been making a foolish face, he shook his head quickly and tried to look seriously at Dusk.
"W-Well... if you insist so much, I guess I could do you the favor of going to that party in your place." Spike said slightly blushing as he stretched his claw, so Dusk would hand him the ticket.
"Well said casanova!" Dusk said quickly, handing the ticket to Spike, happy to know that he had been saved from having to attend that boring party.
Spike held the ticket between his claws and a big smile grew on his face as he imagined himself entering the Grand Galloping Gala accompanied by Equestria's most beautiful mare, his beloved Rarity.
"I'll be back!" Spike said, full of joy, holding the ticket and running to the library door to go immediately to his beloved's house to invite her as soon as possible.
Dusk watched happily as his brother left the library in the direction of Carousel Boutique, glad that everything had gone well, after all he had got away with it, but Spike was also happy, it had been a win-win agreement for both, now on the day of the Gala he would be able to rest in his room comfortably while Spike was going to dance and have fun... along with... Rarity. As soon as Dusk thought of one of his new friends dancing romantically with someone else, his heart tightened for a second.
Meanwhile, Spike had already arrived at Carousel Boutique, he had ran at full speed to the house of Rarity, where before touching the door, he rested a bit to recover the air, then he adjusted his scales a bit like a hairstyle, and finally he knocked on the door.
"Come in ~!" The melodious voice of Rarity said from inside the house.
Spike opened the door and entered the boutique, his eyes shining with excitement to see there the beautiful white unicorn with her stylish purple mane, levitating with her magic a dress that she seemed to be fixing.
"Oh! It's you, my cute Spike, what brings you here?" Rarity said smiling, leaving the dress aside and approaching the dragon.
As Rarity approached, Spike's confidence was fading as he grew more nervous to be so close to his muse.
"I... uh... I..." Spike began to stutter; his cheeks were red as Rarity watched him with a calm smile.
"Come on! This is your chance! What are you? A dragon or a chicken!?" Spike thought as he tried to cheer himself up for what he was going to ask of the unicorn.
"T-The princess sent this invitation to Dusk for the Grand Galloping Gala..." Spike began to say without being able to see Rarity in the eyes because of his embarrassment, stretching out his claw in which he held the ticket for Rarity to see. "It's a double invitation... and I-"
"The Grand Galloping Gala!" Rarity shouted excitedly, widening her eyes. "The party that brings together the most elegant ponies in the whole kingdom! I design ensembles for the gala every year but... Wait! Did you say it was a double invitation?!"
"Y-Yeah..." Spike replied a little nervous to see how exalted Rarity had reacted. "I guess the princess sent it to us so that Dusk and I could go, at first neither of us wanted to go, but since one of us must go, we decided that we can use the double invitation to-"
"Are you coming to offer me the invitation for free!? Oh my, say yes! SAY YES!!" Rarity shouted euphorically, with her eyes shining, holding Spike by the shoulders and bringing her face close to Spike's.
"Th-That's right..." Spike replied completely blushing by having Rarity's face so close to his.
"KYAAAA!!! I'll go to the Grand Galloping Gala! I'll go to the Grand Galloping Gala!" Rarity shouted, full of emotion, so happy that she gave Spike a strong kiss on his cheek in gratitude before releasing him, then she began to jump for joy around the living room of her house.
"Dusk invited me to the gala~! Dusk invited me to the gala~!"Rarity began to sing, even more excited knowing that not only would she go to the gala, but she would go with her beloved Dusk. Then, suddenly she stopped short with a nervous look. "Oh no! There are still months left but I must start working right now for a dress worthy for the gala!" Rarity added seriously, then again began to smile, blushing and shouting with happiness before running to her studio to start designing her dress for the gala.
Meanwhile, Spike was still there, totally motionless, with his mouth open and his pupils in the shape of a heart. He hadn't heard anything Rarity had said after the kiss on his cheek, as soon as he felt the soft lips of the mare making contact with his skin, he went to another world, a world of fantasies in which he and Rarity strolled happily as a couple, running in slow motion in a field of flowers. Finally, after a long time of fantasizing, he was able to get out of his stunned state, turn around and started to walk back towards the library, touching his cheek and swearing that he could still feel Rarity's lips there.
That's how both Spike and Rarity were all day, with a smile from ear to ear, both thinking that they were going to the Grand Galloping Gala with their ideal partner.
The promised breakfast day had arrived, now that everyone had time after the harvest season had ended, and as Dusk had promised more than a week ago, the six ponies would gather together to have breakfast, all paid for by Dusk.
In the usual breakfast place, the Ponyville Café, there were four of the mares: Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, all sitting at the same table, chatting happily together as they waited for the arrival of Rarity and Dusk Shine.
"Did you know that they already started distributing the invitations for this year's Grand Galloping Gala?" Rainbow Dash said, putting a conversation piece on the table. "While I was flying I saw a Canterlot postman deliver a letter with an invitation to the Mayor."
"The Grand Galloping Gala! Gosh! I would really like to be able to attend there..." Applejack said with a dreamy look. "But there are still many months left for the gala."
"Me too-" Fluttershy said in her soft voice before being interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who didn't realize that her shy friend had said something.
"Yeah, but they sent the invitations much earlier so that the guests can confirm and schedule ahead of time, or something like that, you know, classy things from the nobility." Rainbow Dash answered with a shrug, then puts on the same dreamy look as Applejack. "I don't like those elegant parties very much, but I would make an exception for the Grand Gala, I would definitely like to go there some time."
"Me too..." Applejack said still with her dreamy look.
"Me too-" Fluttershy spoke again, and again being interrupted unintentionally by her friend.
"Yeah... So many ponies gathered in the same place! All together celebrating! I would also like to go." Pinkie Pie added with a big smile.
"Me too!" Fluttershy added, speaking a little louder, which was almost like a scream for her, finally making herself heard. That was a problem that Fluttershy was already used to, it didn't always happen, but sometimes, when her friends were very interested in a particular topic, her normal voice was so soft that it was easy to be ignored, so she had to talk a little stronger to be noticed.
"Oh... did we do it again?" Applejack asked embarrassingly, looking at Fluttershy, recognizing that Fluttershy was speaking at a normal volume, which was not normal for her. "I'm sorry if we didn't listen to you, I think we were over excited."
"It doesn't matter." The always kind Fluttershy replied, returning to her normal volume of voice. "It's my fault for talking so soft."
"You should always scream, it sounded like you were speaking in a normal volume." Rainbow Dash added smiling. "You must make yourself noticed, take the initiative and stop being so shy."
Fluttershy didn't answer, she just blushed a little, knowing that her friend was right, in fact sometimes she would have liked to have the courage and character that Rainbow Dash had, which was totally contrary to hers.
"Well, back to the subject, Fluttershy, why would you like to go to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Pinkie Pie asked, confused. "I thought you didn't like crowded places."
Fluttershy blushed and smiled while she imagined how it would be like if she went to the Grand Gala.
"Oh, no. I mean, yes, or, actually, kind of. You see, it's not so much the Grand Galloping Gala," Fluttershy replied timidly, but speaking with more confidence and becoming more excited when imagining everything. "But because of the wondrous private gate garden that surrounds the dance. The flowers are said to be the most beautiful and fragrant in all of Equestria. For the night of the Gala, and that night alone, they would all bloom... and that's just the flora! The garden has a lot of beautiful and tender animals living there, it must be like a paradise...!"
"And there, while the most beautiful flowers bloom, there will be Dusk, waiting for me under a beautiful willow tree at the edge of a lagoon. I will approach him without hesitation while a chorus of the most colorful birds fly over us and sings a beautiful song under the moonlight. He'll look at me with his tender and cute eyes, and when I finally get to his side, he'll smile at me and say, 'You look so beautiful tonight...', and then I... I...!" Fluttershy's imagination got swept up in passion, completing in her mind what for her would be the perfect night, not being able to say it aloud, but not being able to avoid blushing entirely when imagining all that.
"Hey! What were you thinking about? Something dirty?" Pinkie Pie said with a smile, interrupting Fluttershy's flow of ideas.
"Eh? AH! N-No! I just..." Fluttershy replied totally blushing, covering her mouth with her hooves very tenderly.
The other three mares laughed when they saw their shy friend blushing, accepting that it was very difficult to resist the innate tenderness of Fluttershy.
"Yeah, I think that each of us has their own reasons to attend the Grand Galloping Gala." Applejack said with a sigh. "It's a pity that none of us are invited."
"Oh, darling, don't speak for all of us." Rarity said suddenly, who had just arrived and had heard Applejack's last comment.
They all turned to see Rarity, who arrived with a huge smile, wearing elegant dark glasses and a fancy white kerchief over her head as if she were a movie star, moving even more flirtatious than she always did, giving off an air of pride, as if she had won a great prize.
"What are you talking about?" Applejack asked as Rarity took a seat and pulled her kerchief from her head to show her always well-groomed mane. "Don't tell me that... You were invited to the Grand Galloping Gala!?"
"That's right, darling." Rarity said with a proud smile. "With all my heart I wish we could all go there, and we could all fulfill our dreams, but unfortunately I was only invited as a companion."
"Who invited you to the Grand Gala!?" Rainbow Dash asked excitedly.
"Well..." Rarity answered taking off her dark glasses in a very theatrical way and looked with a smile of triumph at her friends. "It so happened that Dusk received a double invitation and asked me to be his partner and to accompany him."
"WHAT!?" The four mares shouted at the same time, all in shock.
"That's right, yesterday Dusk asked Spike to go and tell me about the invitation. Poor baby, Dusk was probably so nervous about inviting me in person that he had to ask little Spike to do it in his place." Rarity said, smiling before noticing the bitter glances of her friends.
"Oh, girls, I don't want you to hate me for this." Rarity added, full of pride. "We all knew this was going to happen, that Dusk would choose one of us at some point."
The annoyance of the other four mares was only increasing when seeing the false modesty with which Rarity tried to act, it was obvious that she was happy to have been chosen by Dusk over them, and now she was rubbing it in their faces.
"Don't worry, we'll still be best friends!" Rarity said smiling, putting salt on the wound. "Dusk will continue to love you as friends, only that he will love me a little more, since I'll be his marefriend, Fufufu!" Rarity ended up laughing pedantically, not because she wanted to hurt her friends, but simply because she wanted to enjoy and share that great triumph that she had achieved.
"Hi girls!" Dusk Shine said, just arriving at that moment.
As soon as Dusk saluted, he noticed the furious looks on four of his friends, who were giving him a very murderous glare.
"Hi Dusk! Come, sit next to me." Rarity said, smiling coquettishly.
"Err... okay..." Dusk replied nervously, paying attention to Rarity as it definitely looked like he would be killed if he sat next to one of his other friends. "Sorry I'm late, but I remembered that I didn't have money, so I had to go to the town hall to ask for some advance money."
"It doesn't matter, darling, after all, we still haven't ordered." Rarity said smiling.
"Oh, great, so let's order! Remember, I'll pay for all!" Dusk said with a nervous smile, looking at his other friends, hoping that that gesture of generosity would calm them down a little bit, but he didn’t know the reason why they were upset. "By the way, has Spike shown up?"
"No, why are you asking?" Rarity replied.
"Well, I didn't see him this morning when I woke up, I thought he would be here, but now I'm worried..." Dusk said nervously, looking back.
At that moment the waiter arrived, he delivered the menus, so Dusk and Rarity said their orders, while the other four mares only indicated with their hooves what their order would be, without saying a word while they continued their irritated glares at Dusk, which scared the lavender unicorn, so much that he was afraid to ask why they were angry with him, because if he asked that, he could cause them to become even more mad at him for not knowing, so Dusk reviewed in his mind what he had done the last few days that could have made them so angry, rather than asking them for an answer.
While they waited for their orders, Dusk occasionally turned to see the road, waiting for his little brother to appear at any moment.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Spike is fine." Rarity said tenderly, trying to reassure Dusk when she saw how nervous he was getting.
"Yeah... I know." Dusk said blushing, regretting to glimpse his nervousness of being a big brother, he decided to change the topic, so he would not ruin breakfast with his friends. "Tell me, what were you all talking about before I arrived?"
"Hngh... about the Grand Galloping Gala..." Rainbow Dash answered with clenched teeth, still watching furiously at Dusk.
"I-I see..." Dusk said nervously seeing the murderous look of Rainbow Dash. "By the way, Rarity, thank you for accepting the invitation!"
"On the contrary, darling, it's me who should thank you." Rarity said, smiling coquettishly, leaning her body closer to Dusk, all while the killer gazes of the other four mares were increasing.
"Yeah, you don't know how happy Spike was to know that you two were going together to the Grand Gala" Dusk said smiling.
A sepulchral silence remained in the air while the five mares opened their eyes in surprise.
"Wha... What did you say, darling?" Rarity stuttered with a nervous smile, trembling as she prayed she had heard wrong.
"That Spike was very happy to go with you to the Grand Gala." Dusk repeated. "At the beginning, he didn't want to go, but..."
While Dusk was speaking, Rarity's eyes were wide open as she felt her whole world had crumbled, then she turned quickly to see her friends and saw that they no longer had a look of hatred, but they were holding their laughter, covering their mouths while they saw her, especially Rainbow Dash, who seemed at any moment would burst out laughing. Seeing her friends like that, Rarity turned red with embarrassment, more ashamed than she had ever felt in her life, all her pride had been for a misunderstanding, she had come there triumphantly to show off to her friends and now she was paying a high price.
"...he came back to the library very happy. I really appreciate you agreeing to go with him so much." Dusk finished speaking, who didn't realize what was happening in the minds of his friends.
When he finished speaking, Dusk realized that none of his friends were watching or paying any attention to him, which he took as an opportunity to again look back and see if Spike was there, however his brother still didn't appear. Finally, Dusk bit his lip and stood up, unable to be patient anymore.
"Excuse me, but I must leave." Dusk said seriously as he stood up. "It may not be anything, but I don't want to repeat what happened last time, when Spike fled from Angel and was lost for more than a day, I'm his older brother and I have to be more responsible, I’m going to go look for him."
Then Dusk left immediately without any of the mares saying goodbye. As soon as Dusk was gone, the laughter broke out.
"HAHAHAHA!! So you'll go to the Grand Gala as the brand new marefriend of a baby dragon! Hahaha!" Rainbow Dash laughed loudly, not being able to hold her laughter anymore.
"Aww... Yup! They make such a beautiful couple, Hehehe!" Pinkie Pie mocked as well, pretending to give some kisses to the air.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy covered her mouth trying in vain not to laugh, while Applejack held her head down while having her eyes closed, she also was trying not to laugh. Applejack would have stopped her friends from making fun of Rarity, however deep down she knew that her friend deserved it for the haughty and proud way that she was in when she arrived to tell them about her date with Dusk, so she allowed her friends to continue for a little while more, taking advantage of Rarity's misfortune. While Rarity, who accepted it, only bowed her head while her ears seemed to shine as red as ever, her whole face was red with shame, she felt humiliated, however she accepted that everything was a kind of karma for having abused her friends for telling them the news of what she thought would be the best date of her life, rubbing it in their faces so that her friends felt envy, now she received her punishment.
After a while, when the laughter from her friends finally calmed down a bit, Rarity finally spoke.
"Okay... I deserved it." Rarity said, less reddish than before but still embarrassed by the humiliation she experienced. "But now I have a more serious problem... What will I say to poor Spike?"
"I don't see what the problem is, just go with him." Rainbow Dash said laughing, unable to resist the urge to say one last joke.
"Very funny... I'm serious!" Rarity said a little anguished. "If it was any other party, I would have no problem going with my cute little Spikey-Wikey, but we're talking about the Grand Galloping Gala! I can't arrive as a couple of a baby dragon, what will the ponies of Canterlot think about me!? What am I? A child molester!? I mean, it's an elegant party where the most glamorous couples of Equestria will go to, it could become a huge misunderstanding if I came as a couple with little Spike, both for him and me."
"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Applejack answered more seriously. "I think the best would be... Oh-oh..."
Applejack stopped talking when she saw a peculiar figure approaching, it was Spike, who was walking towards them, wearing what appeared to be a tuxedo, however when he approached them, they all could see that what he was wearing was a shirt that looked like a tuxedo.
"Hi Rarity!" Spike said smiling, ignoring the other mares and concentrating his attention on his beloved.
"H-Hi Spike... W-What are you doing here?" Rarity replied nervously, seeing the fashion disaster that Spike was wearing.
"I just wanted to show you what I'll wear at the Gala, I had to ask somepony to send me this shirt from Canterlot since I left it there, what do you think? It's great! Isn't it?" Spike said showing his T-shirt, to the horrified Rarity. "Besides... I wanted to be with you when I send the ticket with our names on it." Spike finished saying, blushing, holding the gold ticket that had already been filled with the names of Rarity and him.
"Oh, thank Celestia! There's still time!" Rarity thought, relieved to see that Spike hadn't yet sent the invitation, even though it already had her name written on it.
"Honey, listen..." Rarity began to speak, looking affectionately at Spike, pausing to think of what she can say to avoid hurting the tender dragon's feelings. "I think it's best not to send the invitation, I mean, I know I said I'd love to go with you, but... I remembered that I have some business to take care of that day, so I think it's better that you invite someone else, maybe... a pretty mare of your age."
Upon hearing those words, Spike's ears came down as a sign of grief.
"Then... You can't go with me...?" Spike asked sadly, lowering his head.
That broke Rarity's heart, she felt humiliated to realize that she had actually been invited by Spike, even more so thinking what the highborn ponies would say if they saw her arrive with a baby dragon, but seeing Spike so sad, who was always happy around her and who always smiled at her, all that stopped being important for her, she didn't care anymore that her friends would make fun of her or what anyone would think, if she could make Spike happy just by accompanying him, she would do it, no matter the consequences, she just wanted to see her sweet Spikey-Wikey happy.
"You know, on second thought, my previous commitments are not that important." Rarity said holding Spike's head and smiling at him. "I'd love to go to the Grand Galloping Gala with you, Spike."
Instantly, Spike's eyes flashed with enthusiasm and his cheeks blushed at the feeling of Rarity's warm touch.
"Then I'll send the invitation!" Spike said happily, taking the ticket to send it to the princess with his magical fire.
While Spike sent the ticket, Rarity glanced at her friends, mentally prepared to see them mocking her again, but none of them were making fun of her, on the contrary, all of them smiled tenderly at Raritys sweet gesture.
Once Spike spat out the magical fire that consumed the ticket, he turned to look at Rarity and gave her a smile, something that didn't last long, because Spike suddenly belched green fire out and from it came a scroll that fell to the ground.
"I'm sorry!" Spike said quickly, embarrassed to have belched in front of Rarity.
"T-That's..." Rarity said uncertainly, looking at the scroll on the ground.
"A letter from the princess!" Spike said excitedly, opening the scroll on his own, thinking that this must be the answer to the letter he had just sent.
Spike took the scroll and opened it slowly as he read it:
"Dear Spike, with regret I must inform you that I think there was some confusion.
Unfortunately, there is a minimum age to attend the Grand Galloping Gala, since it is a formal event where many authorities and other kingdoms attend, that is why I have never invited Dusk to attend until now. For the same reason, and also knowing that I can't allow you to stay awake until late at night when you are only a small and growing dragon, I regret to inform you that you will not be able to attend this year's Grand Gala."
The little dragon had begun to read the letter with great enthusiasm, but as he read and understood where the princess's letter was getting at, his good mood dissipated, reaching the point of discouragement when he finished reading the last paragraph, where it said he couldn't attend the Grand Galloping Gala. However, that was not all that the letter said, so Spike, dejected, and continued to read the letter.
"I must admit that all of this was my fault for not writing the letter personally, to explain the situation. Therefore, to compensate you for this terrible misunderstanding, and hoping that you can forgive me, I'll send you a small chest with precious 'heart of fire' rubies , from my private collection."
Upon reading this, Spike's mood changed dramatically, he opened his eyes widely and shouted for joy at the news, completely forgetting about everything else.
"I'll be eating gems again! I'll be eating gems again!" Spike screamed elated, then opening his mouth and dropping a thin thread of drool while fantasizing what he would eat. "And not just any kind of gems... The Princess sent me 'heart of fire' rubies !"
Spike's stomach growled impatiently as he imagined himself eating those tasty rubies, it is a special type of ruby that only appeared in the northern crystal mountains, as scarce as they were tasty. Spike, as childish and hungry for gems as he was, easily forgot that he couldn't go to the Grand Gala, but that didn't matter to him anymore, with pleasure, he would have given that ticket in order to get a single ruby, and now instead he had won a whole chest, besides he never wanted to go to that silly Gala from the beginning, so Spike couldn't help but smile, at least until he saw Rarity and remembered that if he didn't go, Rarity couldn't.
"Oh, Rarity! I... I'm sorry, it's just that I was excited to know what I would eat-"Spike said sadly, looking at Rarity with a sad expression.
"Oh, Spike, don't worry." Rarity interrupted, smiling after seeing the little dragon so happy. "Remember that I had told you that I had some things to do that day, beside we can have a nice evening without going to the Gala, in fact, what do you think if one of these days we have a picnic in the park?"
At Rarity's comment, Spike smiled, blushing, feeling like he was floating in the clouds, even happier for the double prize he got, since now he not only had the rubies, but he also had made an appointment with Rarity without having to go to that boring Gala. While Rarity, not only was happy to see Spike happy, she was also relieved because now she would not have to go to the Grand Gala with the little dragon, nor would she have to explain any misunderstandings or rumors that this would’ve generated, since because of the law, Rarity was an adult and Spike was just a baby, and going as a couple to an elegant party would be a big problem.
"And that's all the letter said?" Pinkie Pie suddenly asked, glancing at the scroll and seeming to see the letter continue.
Then Spike left his daydreams, stretched the scroll again and continued reading.
"Having already solved that, now I'll talk about the double ticket.
That ticket was for Dusk! I thought he would understand that the ticket was for him to attend with a companion, I even sent for a double invitation, those invitations don't even exist! I asked it specially to give to Dusk and that way he’d understood the hint! But apparently my cute little student is still as naive as ever, so I'll have to say it more directly:
Give this to Dusk and tell him it's an obligation that both must attend.
Affectionately.
Princess Celestia."
As soon as Spike finished stretching the scroll to finish reading the letter, two golden tickets fell from the scroll. Both the mares and Spike remained, watching where the tickets had fallen, until Spike picked them up.
"There are... two individual tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala..." Spike said after seeing them. "It seems that the Princess wants Dusk to attend no matter what, but... I don't understand who the second ticket is for..."
Then Spike put the tickets on the table where the five mares were sitting, who immediately put their heads to see the tickets and read what they said.
The first golden ticket was very similar to the one that Spike had before, only that this didn't say 'Double Invitation', also, on the dotted line for the name, the name 'Dusk Shine' was already written, while under the name said in smaller letters 'Title: Princess Celestia's student'. However, the look of the mares changed when they read the second ticket, which was identical to the previous one, only that in the dotted line for the name, no name appeared, however underneath it, it looked as though as if there was something written, an aggregate with letters, small ones that said 'Title: Dusk Shine's special mare'. When they read what the second ticket said, the eyes of the five mares widened while it seemed as if time had stopped, Spike didn't understand, but they all understood what the ticket was referring to with 'Dusk Shine's special mare'. A great battle was about to begin.
# End of chapter 23